Darning foot for sewing machines



Jan. 9, 1934. w L. BARRON 1,943,254

DARNING FOOT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Oct. 25, 1932 l 80 i i 23. i 19 i11 E z 7 a 16 15 WHY/Ill liWWfl/IIIIIIl/I/I J9 I 16 a? ,7 5

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William L. Bar/0 10 Sitar/MA Patented Jan. 9, 1934 1,943,254 DARNINGFOOT FOR SEWING MACHINES William L. Barron, Laurence Harbor, N. J., as-

signor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application October 25, 1932. Serial No.639,403

5 Claims.

This invention relates to sewing machine a tachments and moreparticularly to a darning foot which may be attached to any of the wellknown types of family sewing machines.

It is the object of this invention to provide a darning foot which willoperate with the minimum of noise, which will offer the least possibleobstruction to the operators view of the Work and which can bemanufactured and assembled at little expense.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear,the invention consists in the devices, combinations, and arrangements ofparts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawingof a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the severalfeatures of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will bereadily understood by those skilled in the art.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of the needle-bar and thepresser-bar showing my improved darning foot attached to the latter,with the presser-member in raised position.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the presser-member in alowered position.

Figure 3 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a disassembled perspective view of the several parts.

In the drawing 1 is the needle-bar bearing, 2 is the needle-bar, 3 theneedle-clamp, 4 the needle, 5 the presser-bar, and 6 the clamp-screw forthe presser-foot, all of which are old, and well known in family sewingmachines.

In the embodiment selected for illustration my improved darning-footcomprises a vertical plate 7 having at the bottom of its rearward sidethe usual socket 8 which embraces the presser-bar 5 to which it issecured by the clampscrew 6. The central part of the plate 7 is archedoutwardly, as shown at 9, to afiord a longitudinal cavity for thecompression spring 10. The plate 7 is formed with marginal lips 11 and12 which overhang the front face of the plate 7 and which afford aguideway for the substantially fiat body of the presser-member 13. Thepresser-member 13 is formed at its lower extremity with a dependingoffset forwardly extending foot-plate 14 having a needle-aperture 15.The upper extremity of the presser-member 13 is formed with a lateralextending rigid arm 16 overhanging the needle-clamp. An L-shaped stopmember 17 secured to the presser-member by the screw 18 has one of itsends extending through the aperture 19 in the presser-member. The upperend of the compression spring 10 acts against the upper wall of thelongitudinal cavity 9 in the plate '7 and the lower end of the springacts against the L-shaped stop 17, thereby constantly urging thepresser-member downwardly. To cushion the shock and to absorb noise, Ihave provided a wire spring 20 -having independently acting arms 21 and22, the spring 20 being secured to the presser-member 13 by the screw23. The arm 21 of the spring extends above and normally rests upon themarginal lip 12 of plate 7, and the other arm 22 is spaced below therigid arm 16 of the pressermember 13, the U-shaped portion 22' of thespring arm 22 overlying the arm 16.

In the operation of the device, when the material to be darned is inposition to be acted upon by the stitch-forming mechanism, and theneedle begins its downward movement, the foot-piece 14 of thepresser-member 13 urged downwardly by the compression spring 10 engagesthe material and holds it firmly against the cloth-plate 24 while theneedle is in the work. Slightly before the presser-member 13 reaches itslowest position the arm 21 of the spring 20 engages the top of themarginal lip 12 and absorbs the momentum of the presser-member 13. Thepresser-foot 14 remains in its lowest position while the needle is inthe work and releases the work automatically when the needle approachesits uppermost position so that the work may be shifted thereunder in anydirection. This is accomplished by the needleclamp 3 engaging the arm 22of the wire spring 20 and forcing the presser-member 13 upward to theposition shown in Figure 1. It will be obvious that the arm 22 of thespring 20 will yield when it is engaged by the needle-clamp 3, therebycushioning the blow.

It will be apparent that minor changes in the details of constructionmay be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim hereinis:

1. A darning foot for sewing machines comprising, a plate adapted to befixed to the presserbar of a machine, said plate being formed with arearwardly extending longitudinal cavity, a presses-member mounted toreciprocate vertically on said plate, a compression spring disposedwithin the rearwardly extending cavity in the plate, said spring havingone of its ends acting against the plate and its other end against astop carried by the presser-member, and a laterally extending armcarried by said presser-member, said arm being adapted to contact withthe needle-clamp when it approaches its highest position to cause theneedle-bar to lift the pressermember.

2. A darning foot for sewing machines comprising, a plate adapted to befixed to the presserbar of the machine, a presser-member carried by saidplate, spring means for constantly urging said presser-memberdownwardly, a laterally extending arm on said presser-member, said armbeing adapted to contact with the needle-clamp when it approaches itshighest position to cause the needle-bar to lift the presser-member andmeans for cushioning the blow of the needleclamp against the arm.

3. A darning foot for sewing machines comprising, a plate adapted. to befixed to the presserbar of the machine, a presser-member carried by saidplate, spring means for constantly urging said presser-memberdownwardly, a laterally extending arm on said presser-member, said armbeing adapted to contact with the needle-clamp when it approaches itshighest position to cause the needle-bar to lift the presser-member andmeans for cushioning the blow of the needleclamp against the arm, saidlast named means comprising a wire spring fixed to the pressermember andhaving its free end spaced below and substantially parallel with therigid arm.

4. A darning foot for sewing machines comprising a plate adapted to befixed to the presserbar of a machine, said plate having marginal lipsoverhanging its front face to afford a guideway, a presser-membermounted to reciprocate vertically in said guideway, spring means forconstantly urging said presser-member downwardly, a lateral arm carriedby said presser-member, and a spring carried by said presser-member forcushioning the downward movement of the presser-member when itapproaches its lowest position.

5. A darning foot for sewing machines comprising, a plate adapted to befixed to the presserbar of a machine, said plate having marginal lipsoverhanging its front face to afford a guideway, a presser-membermounted to reciprocate vertically in said guideway, spring means forconstantly urging said presser-member downwardly, a lateral arm carriedby said presser-member, and a spring secured to said presser-member,said spring having independently acting arms one of which is spacedbelow and substantially parallel with the rigid arm of thepresser-member, and the other of which engages one of the marginal lipson the plate when the presser-member approaches its lowest position.

WILLIAM L. BARRON.

